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Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Brian Singleton on September 29, 2008, 11:46 am I have just come across the fascinating thread, started in February last year by Robin O'Connor, on Janet Baker and Saga Records. Like Paul Serotsky and no doubt other Music Web users I still have several of the wonderful 12s/6d Saga discs from the 1960s. Harry Newstone's Brandenburgs with the Hamburg Chamber Orchestra are still treasured as is the gorgeous fresh-voiced Janet Baker in her Anthology of English Song and John Shirley-Quirk's matchless Songs of Travel. But they are all in less than top condition! If only someone would reissue these and other gems from the Saga catalogue I'm sure there would be no shortage of buyers. Dame Janet is still frequently heard on the BBC and she is well-served by many CD reissues but John Shirley-Quirk seems strangely neglected; a great pity. I long to hear that magnificent and sensitive voice in Songs of Travel without the clicks and hisses that afflict my old LPs! Link: article link

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Martin Walker on September 30, 2008, 12:56 pm, in reply to "Saga Records CD transfers" 91.164.197.216 I still have several Saga LPs too, though I gave away some - I rather regret the Reginald Kell/Fine Arts Mozart Clarinet Quintet. The Janet Baker/Isepp Anthology of English Song was actually reissued in Europe (mine was Made in Germany 1996) as a CD by Emergo Classics (Amsterdam) as Saga Continuations Ltd. Apparently it is now Edel. That and the Janet Baker/Isepp Sings Schumann, Schubert and Brahms are still available on Amazon.de for 5 Euro 50 cent. The Shirley-Quirk CD you mention seems not to have been reissued, though there is a Saga English Music anthology with various unspecified pieces & both S-Q and Carol Case for 12 Euro 99. The S-Q Ireland Songs was - and costs 49 Euro from Amazon Marketplace! Rather unlikely, I would say, that recordings by Harry Newstone will ever get reissued.

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Martin Walker on September 30, 2008, 1:06 pm, in reply to "Saga Records CD transfers" 91.164.197.216 Sorry - postscript: I just tried searching Amazon.de for J S-Q: Songs of Travel and found it for 10 Euro. Why don't you try the Edel catalogue?

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by tony vercoe on September 11, 2010, 12:04 am, in reply to "Saga Records CD transfers" Yes, I too would be very grateful for the opportunity to obtain good CD transfers of the Saga issues you mention: John Shirley-Quirk's Songs of Travel, Janet Baker's English song anthology, and not forgetting her recording of Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben. Here's hoping TV

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Martin Walker on September 11, 2010, 11:05 am, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" 82.249.125.92 Well, in fact Janet Baker's Schumann, Schubert & Brahms collection and the English Song Anthology are available from Regis, in Germany also from Saga (H'Art), while Saga (Edel) offers the Shirley Quirk collection, at least on Amazon.de. But maybe not for long...

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Ernst Lumpe on November 16, 2010, 10:21 am, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" I, too, own a rather large collection of old Sagas, many in very good condiction. I have started recently to tranfer many to the CD-R format, with declicking and slightly reworking the sound. The Brandenburgs with Harry Newstone are ready already, the Bach harpsichord concertos with Christopher Wood are in the making. I plan to make tranfers of the rarely encountered recordings of Maria Donska of early Livia Rév - not to speak of the old Fiorentino recordings. Interested people may contact me... E. Lumpe

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Philip Lange on April 6, 2012, 7:33 pm, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" I have just come across your website and interested to read that you may have transferred some Saga records of Maria Donska. I would appreciate your sending me details. I live in the UK. Maria was a great friend and teacher, but I never came across her saga recordings. I look forward to hearing from you. Philip Lange

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Ernst Lumpe on April 6, 2012, 7:53 pm, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" 2.34.162.240 Hello, I will inform you as soon as I'll be back from holiday. regards, EL

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by William Nealon on May 2, 2013, 9:23 pm, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" I would be interested n the Brandenburgs on CD, If I remember correctly these were highly thought of in their day.

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by D BRAY on August 21, 2012, 12:04 am, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" How are you progressing with the transfer of old Saga LPs to CD? In your collection do you have the Songs of Travel by Vaughan Williams sung by John Shirley-Quirk? I would really like to find a copy or CD transfer of this amazing LP. I sang in a performance of Bach St John Passion when John Shirley-Quirk and Peter Pears were the two principal soloists and the Saga LP dates form around the same time. He was a truly gifted singer with a wonderful voice. I am in the UK and would love to hear from you. Thanks.

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Tony Reinhardt-Rutland on January 5, 2011, 11:45 am, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" 193.61.161.175 I remember Saga's LP pressings as being unpredictable: plenty of dimples and surface noise. The label was certainly interesting in presenting unexpected material. One issue contained Sibelius's Symphonies 3 and 7 conducted by Alexander Gibson and the Scottish National as it then was. The recording apparently originated from the short-lived Waverley label. Gibson was of course hardly an unknown. I regularly heard him in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh during the early 1970s, where his rather brusque persona was not always appreciated, in contrast with the chief guest conductor at the time: Gary Bertini. Nonetheless,in his recordings, Gibson was capable of sterling work in Sibelius and Mahler, for example. I guess he was one of many performers who never quite achieved consistent star status for reasons that are not always obvious.

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Tony Vercoe on January 5, 2011, 9:50 pm, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" 210.246.20.47 Interesting to read Tony Reinhardt-Rutland's comments re Alexander Gibson. He was a fellow student at Royal College of Music, London, along with another budding conductor, John Matheson, while I was an opera and drama student there, together with Kenneth McKellar and David Ward among others. Both Gibson and Matheson used to conduct our opera productions in the (then) Parry Theatre. Alex married another of our students, Eileen Price.

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Paul Adams on January 18, 2011, 8:28 pm, in reply to "Re: Saga Records CD transfers" I reissued a Ken Colyer Society LP on CD on my LAKE label under licence from the owners of SAGA (based in Holland as I recall. I would like to license some more material, but I seem to have lost all contact with the owners. Does anyone know where they are?

Re: Saga Records CD transfers Posted by Jack Geitz on April 14, 2011, 11:25 am, in reply to "Saga Records CD transfers" SAGA ! What memories !, I had a Saga Sibelius 3 and & 7 LP symphonies under Alexander Gibson ( I think it was ?) and the slow movement of that 3rd has haunted me ever since! I dont know why, it had something, maybe a coldness that I have not heard since. I long to hear it again... (even though I have about 4 versions of the 3rd in my collection !!!!

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